4GLOBAL plc (LON: 4GBL), a UK-based data, services and software company focused on major sporting events and the promotion and measurement of physical activity, has announced the appointment of Kerstin Obenauer as the Company’s new Chief Customer Officer, a non-board position.
Kerstin will head up the 4GLOBAL account acquisition, management and delivery team in a new role designed to expand the Company’s client base internationally. Kerstin was previously UK country director at fitness technology supplier, EGYM, based in Munich, and has over 20 years’ experience in the fitness sector.
Eloy Mazon, Chief Executive Officer of 4GLOBAL, commented:
“As outlined in our recent trading update, we are seeing strong growth and have a significant pipeline of opportunities, particularly in Europe and North America. I am pleased to welcome Kerstin to the 4GLOBAL team and her expertise will be invaluable as we scale up our offering and focus on our ambition to become the world’s leading data and insight in sports and health data.”
4GLOBAL is a UK-based data, services and software company focused on major sporting events and the promotion and measurement of physical activity. The Company uses its proprietary data and software solutions to convert data into actionable insight which enables clients to promote sports participation, to reduce physical inactivity and to achieve economic, social and healthcare outcomes.
The Company works with, and supports, a range of clients including governments (e.g. the UK Government and Sport England), cities and local authorities (e.g. Neom, Saudi Arabia, and Manchester, UK), sporting federations and activity providers (e.g. The Gym Group), to address the problem of physical inactivity, to produce significant and measurable health, social and economic benefits.
Historically, the company has used major sporting events as a catalyst to help address the issue of physical inactivity issue. Physical inactivity, the key problem addressed by the technology offering, is a global phenomenon. Across the globe, physical inactivity has yet to be met with concerted government action. Addressing this issue is an essential element of the company’s potential growth. Its relationships with governments, and public and international sports bodies, makes 4GLOBAL ideally placed to provide a solution.
Over time, the role that these sports and sporting events play at national and city (or in the UK at local authority) level has evolved. The management identified the London 2012 Olympics as a transformational point. Since then, increasing emphasis has been placed on leaving a “legacy” once the event has ended – economic legacy (in terms of transformation and regeneration of host cities), social legacy (in terms of improving local/national health, crime reduction, education improvements) and participatory legacy (to increase the participation in sport by the host country’s population). The company’s management realised that measurement and monitoring of these outcomes requires relevant data. As a consequence, the Company has built the Sport Intelligence platform, which tracks and manages activity data that has been collected and stored on the Company’s DataHub, its GDPR-compliant database.
The Directors believe that demand for its offerings will continue to increase. This is driven by underlying growth in key channels to market, such as a long-standing relationship with the UK Government, and increased development of proprietary models that highlight the social return of investment in sport, rising health and social cost pressures, regulatory and technology change and continuing consolidation in the sports and technology services industry.
The Group also has a vision to capitalise on the transformation in the role of sport towards a wider public purpose around health and wellbeing through the promotion of physical activity, which in turn produces health benefits to people and society. In this way, and through its proprietary sports participation data platform, Sport Intelligence, the Company differentiates itself from more generalist sports and/or health technology and services businesses.
